Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I work in the garment industry and have been using Rowenta irons (both at work and at home) for over 15 years. The best advice I can give anyone is that if you are going to spend the money for the Rowenta brand name, then make sure that the model you are buying says "MADE IN GERMANY". At one time all Rowenta irons were made in Germany, however several years ago as a cost cutting move, the company farmed out many of its lower price models to China. The difference in quality between the models made in Germany and China is quite dramatic. Every Rowenta German model I have owned or worked with has been mostly reliable, and each provided steady long term use. On the other hand, the lower priced models made in China are known to leak (both clear and brown water), drip, have uneven steam, and only last for a short time. I offer this not only as my own opinion; this is the general consensus among my industry colleagues as well. My previous Rowenta home model just died after 10 years of service. After much research and comparison, I decided on this Rowenta Pro Maser DW-8080 model as a replacement. I have been using it for three weeks and so far am very happy with the purchase. PROS: Great steam power (lots of it!)....even on the medium steam setting it produces enough for getting out wrinkles on linen and cotton. The iron gets out wrinkles in one pass, where my old iron may have taken two or three passes. The pointed nose makes it easy to get into corners. The iron uses regular tap water (unfiltered, straight out of the tap) and comes with a plastic pouring cup which is handy for filling. I have not experienced any dripping or leaking of any kind. The self-clean feature really works, it lets out a BLAST of steam and water that will flush out any particles. CONS: Iron is a bit on the heavy side...it is substantial in your hand. The hand grip seems a bit short in length, and is positioned more towards the back of the unit, which makes the iron feel a bit front-long as you steer it around. The hinged lid covering the water fill hole has to be snapped shut; it requires a pretty good push to get it to snap (though that could be because the unit is new). Despite the few flaws, I think that the Rowenta Pro Master is a great iron for home use. UPDATE 12/2010: I have been using this iron for nearly 11 months now and it is still performing as beautifully as day one. Highly recommend. UPDATE 2/2013: Still going strong! My only minor complaint is that despite the anti-calc feature the iron has a bit of calcium build up inside after 3 years. The little flakes of build up do come out with the self-clean feature, but I have to self-clean more often as it gets older. Can't really fault the iron for this as mineral deposits are a fact of life when an appliance uses hot water. I also occasionally polish up the soleplate with the Rowenta Soleplate Cleaner Kit to keep it gliding smoothly. Other than that it's still performing as well as they day I bought it. UPDATE 3/2018: I've had this iron for 8 years now and it still works great! All of the buttons and settings still work, nothing has broken or worn out. It does require periodic self-cleaning to flush out the mineral build up. I also still occasionally polish the soleplate. I save up my wrinkled clothes and do one major ironing about every other week. So the iron is going constantly for about 1.5 hours per use. Depending on your usage your mileage may vary.